Below is a list of questions submitted by the Forest Hill and Sydenham Societies to Transport for London following a meeting with them on 31st January 2007. We hope that when the answers come they will clarify the situation.
1. What cuts in services to and from London Bridge does the feasibility timetable envisage?
2. Is the feasibility timetable, one that TfL broadly supports?
3. Will the London Bridge to Victoria via FH service continue to run and if so what will be the frequency of this service in each direction?
4. What will be the time of the last train from LB and the last train running on the ELL?
5. Before the East London line closes for construction, what can be done to ensure that all peak hour trains in operation to and from LB are a minimum of 8 carriages long?
6. What can be done in the future to increase the length of trains to and from London Bridge, beyond 8 carriages? What is the minimum timescale that such changes can be made if government investment is forthcoming?
7. What are your estimates of the percentage of passengers who will use the ELL as opposed to LB services in 2011?
8. Taking into account growth in passenger numbers by 2010 plus the additional commuters who will be attracted by the new service, can you be sure that the ELL and LB service will be able to operate without overcrowding?
9. What reduction in demand for London Bridge services through FH do you expect in 2010 during the morning peak period?
10. What reduction in demand for London Bridge services through FH do you expect in 2010 during the evening peak period, both in total and per train?
11. What is the capacity of each new ELL train carriage, including standing and seated?
12. What is the capacity of an 8 carriage train on the existing Southern Service, including standing and seated?
13. Based on the capacity figures above what is the total increase in capacity to services through FH during the morning peak and off-peak?
14. Will there be any through services to Charing Cross from FH (a service currently available in evenings and weekends)?
15. What is the percentage increase in customers from FH travelling to Canary Wharf and Docklands in 2011?
16. What proportion of passengers from FH will experience a faster journey in 2011?
17. What proportion of passengers from FH will experience fewer interchanges in 2011?
18. Given the introduction of zonal fares, introduction of Oyster will a ticket to London Bridge cost the same as a ticket to Paddington? Will this be more than the current cost of a single ticket to London Bridge?
19. Will any fast trains stop at New Cross Gate in 2010 to allow for interchange?
20. When do TfL expect to begin running FH station and when does TfL plan to upgrade the station to tube standards (manned when open and able to accept Oyster Cards)?
Showing posts with label east london line. Show all posts
Showing posts with label east london line. Show all posts
17 March 2007
09 March 2007
Trains to Forest Hill Discussed in Parliament
Today the House of Commons discussed train services to Forest Hill in an Adjournment Debate: Impact on Network Rail services of the Southern extension to the East London Line (Jim Dowd).
You can view the debate on Parliament TV website, jump to approximately 90% through the broadcast to view Jim Dowd MP proposing the motion. Jim Dowd made the concerns of the Forest Hill Society and local residents very clear to The House and praised the Forest Hill Society and other local groups for their campaigning on this issue. The debate covered many of the key issues for the Forest Hill Society and made sure that the Department for Transport is very aware of the concerns of local residents in Lewisham.
We would like to thank Jim Dowd for raising this issue with the minister in parliament.
Hansard transcript of this debate currently available here.
You can view the debate on Parliament TV website, jump to approximately 90% through the broadcast to view Jim Dowd MP proposing the motion. Jim Dowd made the concerns of the Forest Hill Society and local residents very clear to The House and praised the Forest Hill Society and other local groups for their campaigning on this issue. The debate covered many of the key issues for the Forest Hill Society and made sure that the Department for Transport is very aware of the concerns of local residents in Lewisham.
We would like to thank Jim Dowd for raising this issue with the minister in parliament.
Hansard transcript of this debate currently available here.
08 March 2007
Sydenham Society Public Meeting - Wednesday 14th March
THE EAST LONDON RAILWAY HOW WILL THE NEW LINE AFFECT ME?
Peter Field, Director of London Rail Development (the man in charge of ELR) will explain the new line and answer your questions.
Michael Abrahams, Chair of the Forest Hill Society, will be presenting the findings of the Forest Hill Society survey and petition.
Naborhood Centre (next to the post office), Sydenham Road, Wednesday 14th March 7.30pm
Organised by the Sydenham Society & supported by the London Borough of Lewisham.
Peter Field, Director of London Rail Development (the man in charge of ELR) will explain the new line and answer your questions.
Michael Abrahams, Chair of the Forest Hill Society, will be presenting the findings of the Forest Hill Society survey and petition.
Naborhood Centre (next to the post office), Sydenham Road, Wednesday 14th March 7.30pm
Organised by the Sydenham Society & supported by the London Borough of Lewisham.
31 January 2007
Area Forum last night, TfL this afternoon
Darien Goodwin, Head of Transport for Lewisham Council, last night told hundreds of people at the area forum that there will be six trains per hour throughout the day going to London Bridge from Forest Hill. Everybody was pleased to hear this reassurance that the services would not be cut to 4 tph at off-peak times (including the evening services from London Bridge to Forest Hill).
Jim Dowd MP gave further information, predicting that the rumours of cuts in the service would be proved to be unfounded when the official consultation is published later in the year.
The news today was less promising. First we got a copy of the letter from Ian Brown (Managing Director or London Rail) to Deputy Mayor, Councillor Heidi Alexander. I will quote a couple of paragraphs:
"This service frequency [the East London Railway] combined with 6 trains per hour to London Bridge will provide passengers with a total of 14 trains per hour between Sydenham and New Cross Gate"
"TfL's analysis of the demand shows that the East London Railway will:
"The level of boarding at Forest Hill station is expected to increase by approximately 27% in the morning peak, with a significant increase of trips to Canary Wharf via Canada Water. Therefore, there will be less congestion at London Bridge station, due to the direct connection on the Jubilee Line at Canada Water station."
Importantly this letter does not claim the 14 trains per hour will continue throughout the day, and current proposals only show 14 tph at peak times, with just 4 tph travelling between London Bridge and Forest Hill at off-peak times (including the evening peak).
TfL analysis suggests that ELR will be preferable for 55% of passenger in Forest Hill. Our own survey suggests that currently only 35% of passengers would benefit from the improved connections with the Jubilee Line, while the remaining 65% of passengers need to use the connections at London Bridge. While it is inevitable that there will be more passengers travelling to Canary Wharf and other areas of growth in East London, these growth predictions are quite remarkable considering new office space is still being built, and is still popular, in the centre of London and this does not look like changing in the next three years.
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At the meeting with TfL this afternoon we handed over the petition with 700 signatures and 30 pages of comments! (Many thanks to everybody who signed the on-line petition)
TfL were adamant that their modelling of travel patterns are accurate and have undertaken to give us more details on the results of the models.
They support plans to increase the length of trains to 10 carriages per train on Southern services on our line. This project would apparently cost £12million and is one of the best value for money transport projects in London! They are still waiting for approval of funding from the DfT / Treasury later this year but expect this to go ahead. This is good news. The bad news is that we will have to wait until 2016, six years after the reduction in Southern service trains on our line.
Despite a clear difference of opinion between Forest Hill/Sydenham Societies and TfL there were some interesting options that we hope TfL will consider further:
Jim Dowd MP gave further information, predicting that the rumours of cuts in the service would be proved to be unfounded when the official consultation is published later in the year.
The news today was less promising. First we got a copy of the letter from Ian Brown (Managing Director or London Rail) to Deputy Mayor, Councillor Heidi Alexander. I will quote a couple of paragraphs:
"This service frequency [the East London Railway] combined with 6 trains per hour to London Bridge will provide passengers with a total of 14 trains per hour between Sydenham and New Cross Gate"
"TfL's analysis of the demand shows that the East London Railway will:
- generate 21% boarding increase in the northbound direction, whilst the most significant growth rate of 31% will be in the southbound direction;
- attract over 55% of passengers currently travelling in a northbound direction will use East London Railway services, compared to 44% using the Southern railway services to London Bridge. In the Southbound direction, 54% of passengers are predicted to use the East London Railway, whilst 46% will use Southern services."
"The level of boarding at Forest Hill station is expected to increase by approximately 27% in the morning peak, with a significant increase of trips to Canary Wharf via Canada Water. Therefore, there will be less congestion at London Bridge station, due to the direct connection on the Jubilee Line at Canada Water station."
Importantly this letter does not claim the 14 trains per hour will continue throughout the day, and current proposals only show 14 tph at peak times, with just 4 tph travelling between London Bridge and Forest Hill at off-peak times (including the evening peak).
TfL analysis suggests that ELR will be preferable for 55% of passenger in Forest Hill. Our own survey suggests that currently only 35% of passengers would benefit from the improved connections with the Jubilee Line, while the remaining 65% of passengers need to use the connections at London Bridge. While it is inevitable that there will be more passengers travelling to Canary Wharf and other areas of growth in East London, these growth predictions are quite remarkable considering new office space is still being built, and is still popular, in the centre of London and this does not look like changing in the next three years.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
At the meeting with TfL this afternoon we handed over the petition with 700 signatures and 30 pages of comments! (Many thanks to everybody who signed the on-line petition)
TfL were adamant that their modelling of travel patterns are accurate and have undertaken to give us more details on the results of the models.
They support plans to increase the length of trains to 10 carriages per train on Southern services on our line. This project would apparently cost £12million and is one of the best value for money transport projects in London! They are still waiting for approval of funding from the DfT / Treasury later this year but expect this to go ahead. This is good news. The bad news is that we will have to wait until 2016, six years after the reduction in Southern service trains on our line.
Despite a clear difference of opinion between Forest Hill/Sydenham Societies and TfL there were some interesting options that we hope TfL will consider further:
- Longer trains by 2010, with at least 8 carriages per train on all Southern services through Forest Hill
- Increasing the number of Southern service trains in the evening peak to match the morning peak of 6 tph (no reduction from current levels)
- Implementation of the increase to 10 carriages per train earlier than 2016 and preferably by 2010. This would make sense if TfL is taking ownership of the stations in 2009/2010 and need to bring them up to London Underground standard
- We continue to oppose cuts to both our peak and non-peak services to London Bridge and believe that TfL modelling does not take full account of customer preferences for an interchange at London Bridge (to any transport service other than Jubilee Line) rather than the slow train to Bishopsgate or an extra interchange at Canada Water.
16 January 2007
More than 700 commuters sign crowded train petition
There is an article in the South London Press today about our campaign to keep existing train services to London Bridge.
You can read the article on the icSouthLondon website
If you wish to sign the petition just go to http://fhpetition.notlong.com
You can read the article on the icSouthLondon website
If you wish to sign the petition just go to http://fhpetition.notlong.com
05 December 2006
Save Our Train Service
The Forest Hill Society is working with other local societies to oppose any cuts to the existing train service to London Bridge. Currently there are proposals to cut the London Bridge service by 2 trains an hour (from 6 to 4). We welcome the coming of the East London Line in 2010 but oppose any cuts to existing services to London Bridge and Victoria.
If you use the trains on a regular basis we would like you to complete our survey of rail usage. Network Rail is meant to be surveying passenger movements but we would like to get your input, so that we can understand passenger needs from our local stations.
In addition we would like you to write or email Jim Dowd MP. His address is House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA and his email address is jimdowd.newlabour@care4free.net. We have prepared a sample letter for you to download for printing or cutting and pasting into email. Please feel free to adjust the text to reflect your own situation.
Alternatively you can sign our on-line petition.
Thank you for your support.
If you use the trains on a regular basis we would like you to complete our survey of rail usage. Network Rail is meant to be surveying passenger movements but we would like to get your input, so that we can understand passenger needs from our local stations.
In addition we would like you to write or email Jim Dowd MP. His address is House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA and his email address is jimdowd.newlabour@care4free.net. We have prepared a sample letter for you to download for printing or cutting and pasting into email. Please feel free to adjust the text to reflect your own situation.
Alternatively you can sign our on-line petition.
Thank you for your support.
25 November 2006
Meeting with Jim Dowd MP
Pat Trembath and Barry Milton from the Sydenham Society joined me last night to meet with Jim Dowd to discuss the potential cuts in services to London Bridge. We had a very positive meeting and were able to explain our concerns to him regarding the proposal to reduce services from Sydenham and Forest Hill to London Bridge by 33%.
Jim will be meeting with TfL and the Secretary of State for Transport over the next week so our timing in meeting him was fortuitous. We hope that he will make the views of our societies and our members known to those making the decisions regarding services to London Bridge.
Jim will be meeting with TfL and the Secretary of State for Transport over the next week so our timing in meeting him was fortuitous. We hope that he will make the views of our societies and our members known to those making the decisions regarding services to London Bridge.
23 November 2006
Review of Rail Services to London Bridge
Len Duvall (GLA Member) provided the following information on SE23.com on 21st November (London Overground thread):
TfL say "whilst initial studies by TfL indicate a possible reduction by 2 trains per hour to London Bridge, these are actually Network Rail services and they are the appropriate body to contact on this matter. Network Rail are currently undertaking the Southern Route Utilisation Strategy, looking at service provision in the area as a while."
At the meeting on Friday there was a real commitment not to cut services - it is too premature to say there will actually be a 2 train reduction. TfL said that we are about 2 months away from a decision on the London Bridge trains.
The Forest Hill Society is opposed to any cuts to the London Bridge service from Forest Hill and related stations. Although the East London Line will provide additional transport options it is clear that with limited carriages and seating, as well as fewer useful transport connections to the city and West End, the London Bridge service will continue to be vital for our areas of South East London in 2010.
Creative use of Thameslink upgrade (utilising interchange potential and New Cross Gate) and the opportunities for interchange that Crossrail in 2013 will provide additional opportunities for interchange from the East London Line, but not in 2010. For this reason we believe it is important that no reduction in service is contemplated prior to 2013.
TfL say "whilst initial studies by TfL indicate a possible reduction by 2 trains per hour to London Bridge, these are actually Network Rail services and they are the appropriate body to contact on this matter. Network Rail are currently undertaking the Southern Route Utilisation Strategy, looking at service provision in the area as a while."
At the meeting on Friday there was a real commitment not to cut services - it is too premature to say there will actually be a 2 train reduction. TfL said that we are about 2 months away from a decision on the London Bridge trains.
The Forest Hill Society is opposed to any cuts to the London Bridge service from Forest Hill and related stations. Although the East London Line will provide additional transport options it is clear that with limited carriages and seating, as well as fewer useful transport connections to the city and West End, the London Bridge service will continue to be vital for our areas of South East London in 2010.
Creative use of Thameslink upgrade (utilising interchange potential and New Cross Gate) and the opportunities for interchange that Crossrail in 2013 will provide additional opportunities for interchange from the East London Line, but not in 2010. For this reason we believe it is important that no reduction in service is contemplated prior to 2013.
27 September 2006
Minutes from First AGM
Click here to view the minutes from the first AGM of the Forest Hill Society held on 25th September.
Below the minutes are open questions which are being followed up by TfL regarding the East London Line Extension.
We had 150 people at this meeting, demonstrating the demand for such a Society in the local area.
Below the minutes are open questions which are being followed up by TfL regarding the East London Line Extension.
We had 150 people at this meeting, demonstrating the demand for such a Society in the local area.
17 September 2006
Inaugural Meeting of the Society
The Forest Hill Society will be holding its first General Meeting
Monday 25th September at 7.30 pm
Friends’ Meeting House
34 Sunderland Road
We are pleased to welcome Nigel D'Souza from the East London Line project as our Guest Speaker. He will talk about possibly one of the most important events in Forest Hill history – the arrival of the London Overground (East London Line Extension - ELLX)
Monday 25th September at 7.30 pm
Friends’ Meeting House
34 Sunderland Road
We are pleased to welcome Nigel D'Souza from the East London Line project as our Guest Speaker. He will talk about possibly one of the most important events in Forest Hill history – the arrival of the London Overground (East London Line Extension - ELLX)
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